My name is Eleni Gratsia and I live in the beautiful city of Athens, Greece, but I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Arts & crafts have always been a part of my life, from a very young age. Throughout the years I have dabbled in lots of things, but scrapbooking for me is a natural development of a combination for my favourite things: photography, writing, and playing with paper! Officially, I started in 2004, with a need to document the lives of my twin nieces, and a need to document my own life as well. Scrapbooking is a form of expression, preservation and creativity for me!

Of course I’ve also enjoyed sharing my hobby with like minded people both in the international community and here inGreece, and I’m overjoyed in the way scrapping is becoming ever more popular. I’ve met some marvelous people along this journey, who inspire me and keep me going!

It is such an honour to be asked by your inspirational blog to write something for you. So I thought I’d share my latest passion with you!

What I truly enjoy about scrapbooking is that we can incorporate so many different mediums, and craft forms. Recently I’ve rediscovered crocheting … a simple hook and yarn can make and do so much. It’s fashionable at the moment and you can buy, crocheted flowers & trims, so I thought why not do it myself? It’s been so therapeutic! I find it very versatile as well, as with a little imagination you can do so much with it … so, let’s begin with a little show & tell!

For this double layout, I created the banner at the top. I crocheted the triangles in white and then misted them to suit the colours of my page, joining them together to form the banner. Easy peasy but so satisfying because it was made to suit this page! I prefer doing my crochet pieces in white because with the use of mists you can colour them when you need them! So I have a little box of white pieces to pull out whenever I want.

Another idea is to use a crochet piece as a mask. I’ve created an oval piece and in the above layout I misted it, creating the frame for the photo. It can be used again & again. Another idea is to layer different sized pieces to create more texture. You can see the flower I’ve made which I’ve just added a brad. Both were originally white and I misted them once again.

In this layout, you can see the yellow crochet motif. This was originally white as well. But I decided to experiment even more. So after misting it and letting it dry, I ironed it to get it flat and stamped on it. I like the final result. There is so much you can do with it.

Finally here are two special cards that I’ve made recently. I think the crochet pieces make them so much more elegant, don’t you?

I hope that I’ve inspired you to rediscover a forgotten craft form to incorporate in your own scrapping! Thank you once again for the opportunity to share this with you! Feel free to drop by my blog to visit whenever you like: http://elenigratsia.wordpress.com/

My name is Irene Tan or more known as “Scrapperlicious”. I’m a mother of two and I have the most wonderful family that always supports me in pursuing my passion. Scrapbooking to me is really about family and life. There’s nothing more fun and inspiring than to scrap photographs captured everyday of our loved ones and the moments. My scrapping motto has always been ”Scrap with your heart and don’t forget to have fun too!”
I officially started scrapbooking in March 2007 and a couple of months later, in June; I discovered an absolute love of stamping and inking. I don’t really know how to describe my style of scrapping. However, others had told me that my style is ephemera/distressed. I currently design for a few companies such as Bo Bunny, Clear Scraps, Petaloo, Shimmerz Paints and more. I’m so honored to be invited as a guest designer here.

I’m really so honored and excited to be invited as a guest designer here! When I am asked to write about something for you all, I don’t have any idea at all as to what I’m going to write. After giving it some thoughts, I guess I’ll just write a little about my scrapbooking style, my favorite colors and share a few pictures of my work with you all. That would describe me and my work in shortest way.

I will pick some of my favorite projects to share with all. First up is a layout titled “Warmth In your Heart”.

I think right now, it might be snowing in some areas and this layout will be the perfect to keep a little warmth in everyone. One effect that I always look for in my projects is the” glowing” effect. Can you spot the glowing effect in this layout? This layout is created using the gorgeous Snowfall line by Bo Bunny.

The second project will be this “Through the Lens” Mini Album.

This is one of my favorite projects of all time. I love the acrylic camera album by Clear Scraps. I’ve created the grungy and artsy look on this mini album. Tons of distress inks, stamping and alcohol inks went into creating this mini album. Most of my mini albums consist of one or several metal embellishment to accentuate the grungy look that I wanted.

This third project is an altered frame.

Even though I love to work with dark distress colors most of the time, this does not meant that I do not like the sweet and soft colors too. I really love how this altered frame turns out with tons of Shimmerz Paints products and Petaloo flowers.

The fourth project is a layout titled “Serious”.

Since I love inking so much, these resist pattern paper line by Pink Paislee is just perfect for me! I’ve also used some chipboard pieces by Dusty Attic and stamps by Vilda Stamps on this layout.

The next project is a project which I’ve taught in a workshop. The “Journey” altered treasure box.

This box is originally white. I’ve had so much fun distressing it and adding some vintage feel to it. This is one treasure box which I will cherish forever. It has my style all over it.

Next up is another layout titled “Believe”.

I’m totally in love with adding some acrylic or using acrylic as the base for my layouts. In this layout, I’ve added a large acrylic circle as the base and a large acrylic expression as the title. I’ve taught this layout in a number of workshops.

Lastly, I would like to share a project which is very dear to me and kind of personal to you all. My “Sweden” mini album.I’ve had a chance to visit Sweden back in 2008 and loved it! I’ve used a Clear Scraps acrylic word album to scrap the pictures which I’ve captured while there.

To end this article, I would like to share a newly launched e-book by me.

This is my first ever solo e-book and that’s not all. For a limited time, if you purchase this e-book now, you will also get two bonus e-books which are also by me! Isn’t that great? You will learn how I get my inspirations, my thoughts, my techniques, my tools and even how I’ve became who I am today. Thank you so much in advance for all the support!